Changing nature of business leads to lower revenues
BT’s quarterly revenue has generally declined since reaching a high-water mark of 6.13 billion British pounds in the third quarter of 2016. Quarterly revenue reached 5.29 billion British Pounds in the fourth quarter of 2020.The monthly average revenue per user follows a similar pattern, standing at approximately 35 British pounds in the fourth quarter of financial year 2020/2021. This is 4.9 British pounds lower than the ARPU generated in the third quarter of 2018. When it comes to BT's lines of business, BT Consumer has the highest revenue share, with Enterprise and Openreach trailing behind. BT are far from the only telecommunications provider to see a decline in average revenue figures, due to the falling prices of telecommunications services to consumers and general structural shifts within the business.
BT: A powerful force in the market
BT holds the highest market share of fixed broadbandwith a total of 34 percent of all fixed broadband subscribers in the UK in 2019. Since 2007, BT has managed to increase its market share by a total of seven percent.In terms of fixed-line call volumes, BT also stands out, leading the way with around 19.1 billion minutes. Overall fixed-line call volumes have decreased with the rise of messaging and call services such as WhatsApp and FaceTime. However, possibly due to an increase in people conducting business from home during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, voice calls made over the BT network increased by 2.8 billion minutes.
As broadband technologies are developing, BT is a key player that must continuously provide the best services to stay on top. When it comes to superfast broadband (SFBB) access, the company is no different. In England BT Openreach provides 84 percent of English premises with SFBB availability.
Positioning for the 5G future through EE Limited
The BT Group acquired EE Limited (EE) in January 2016. EE Mobile Limited now forms part of the BT Group, providing consumer mobile, pay TV, and internet services. It is through EE that the BT Group has exposure to the important 5G market.So far, EE have been one of the major investors in the 5G roll-out. In the most recent 5G spectrum auctions, EE spent 284 million British pounds acquiring licenses to operate in the 700 MHz frequency range, and 168 million British pounds acquiring licenses in the 3.4 GHz range. This investment comes on top of the 303.59 million British pounds EE spent acquiring spectrum in 2018.
